1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surgical viewing system, and, more particularly, to a surgical viewing system coupled to a screw placing surgical tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently there are methods and devices that are used to assist the professional during the installation of an intramedullary nail. An intramedullary nail is designed to be inserted through the center of a bone and affixed to the bone via screws that are installed through the bone. The nail has pre-existing holes along its length, but when the nail is inserted to a bone, the holes are no longer visible. One option uses a fluoroscope to sight the hole, then the user places the drill based on the image seen on a monitor. The fluoroscope is then moved out of the way, the drill is then rotated into position and drilling is started. This involves a significant amount of practice and skill, since there is no visual feedback after the fluoroscope is moved and drilling starts. One option uses magnetics to sense the holes in the nail. Another option involves a drilling template that is affixed to one end (the proximal end) of the nail. This is ineffective, since the template can become easily misaligned and the nail sometimes bends upon insertion to the bone, rendering the template useless. A bent nail or misaligned template results in an incorrectly drilled hole. An incorrectly drilled hole results in longer surgery, higher potential for infection, and other trauma that can cause post-op complications.
Surgeons can also use pedicle probes to open up a path for screw placement, with an awl or high-speed burr being used to cut through dense cortical shell of vertebrae before using the probe.
The viewing of the alignment of the drill and screw can be misaligned if the transmitter and receiver are not aligned with each other.
What is needed in the art is an easy to operate surgical viewing system that uses a detector that is not necessarily perfectly aligned with an X-ray source.